Hey everyone. My wife and I are at our wits end with our 2 yr old Male who has apparent chronic colitis. He is a pure bred, german lines, high drive dog. Since he was a puppy he has had on and off diarrhea. I mean bad, watery, bloodyish. We have tried every top end food on the market (except raw) and have taken him to the vet many, many times. The vets conclusion is chronic colitis and this last go round last week he put him on a long term antibiotic and probiotic. The problem is that these meds need to be taken with food, and when he is in a bad state he simply won't eat. He otherwise acts normal, healthy and energetic. He had a couple of days of normal bowel movements and now today he is a mess again.

Has anyone else had this issue? Might a raw diet or some other holistic solution exist? We don't know much about feeding raw, but are willing to give it a go if this is best for him. Thanks for any insight you may have!

Yes, we've been through this. Raw was the cure. I used prepared raw, it is expensive but I'm pretty frugal generally so I can splurge on this. We use Nature's Variety raw, frozen patties. We have a large female, 86lbs and she gets one 8oz patty for breakfast. For dinner I use The Honest Kitchen's dehydrated raw. I switch between Embark, Verve,Force and top with a little boiled chicken. The NV our dog loves, THK brand takes a little coaxing to eat. She gets 1cup of dehydrated for dinner.

The NV brand will send you coupons if you sign up on-line. We don't have any pet stores that sell THK around here so I order from them directly, every once in a while they have discounts too.

Besides changing the diet, we try to avoid stressful situations for our dog Molly. Stress brings on colitis. For example if we are at an hour long training class in the warmer months and Molly wants to leave after 35minutes, we just sit out the remainder of class, we don't push her.

There are many knowledgeable people here to help with raw feeding and what to feed, there are also other brands than what I mentioned, this just works for us so I don't want to change it. Hope you find something that works soon!

Has your vet tried Tylan powder for your boy? I had a male GSD with horrible chronic diarrhea and colitis until I gave him Tylan powder. I had to put it in an empty gelatin capsule (from healthfood store) because the powder is bitter and he would not eat it hidden in food at all. A cake decorating tip kit makes a great funnel for a gelatin capsule.

Max was 75 pounds and 30 inches tall when I rescued/adopted him. The diarrhea kept him so thin that I struggled with all sorts of foods and medicines. Once we tried the Tylan powder (in a gelatin capsule hidden in a meatball of canned dog food), he stopped having diarrhea and gained weight. His appetite improved, his gut gurgling stopped and his stool became solid and decreased to just two per day.

Max started with a dose of 1/4 teaspoon twice daily and was able to be stabilized at just 1/8 teaspoon once daily after about three months. He was also given a probiotic and his appetite improved when he was given one raw turkey neck on his kibble with each meal. He would eat the turkey neck, eat the kibble and then would take the medicine or probiotic that I gave him. When I lost him to a spinal cord tumor, he was 92 pounds and looked much healthier.

Thank you both! We are going to investigate the prepared raw food. Our vet did not say anything about Tylan powder only Ciprofloxacin (antibiotic) and potentially long term steroid to stop inflammation that I am really against due to other long term bad side effects. I will ask for the Tylan. Thanks again for your help, I'll keep you posted.......

__________________
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion. - Unknown

Thank you both! We are going to investigate the prepared raw food. Our vet did not say anything about Tylan powder only Ciprofloxacin (antibiotic) and potentially long term steroid to stop inflammation that I am really against due to other long term bad side effects. I will ask for the Tylan. Thanks again for your help, I'll keep you posted.......

Steroids can be great for short term use. They stopped our dog's GI issue almost immediately and when I was having a problem with my cervical spine, they worked so fast, got rid of a problem I'd been having for months.

The side effects are awful. Besides suppressing your immune system, for both me and my dog - we both got really aggressive. I'm talking about taking them for 1-3 days this is what we felt. I felt like I could have a road rage incident very easily, and got insomnia. We had to take Molly out of any training or socialization for the week she was on prednisone.

So don't completely rule them out for immediate, short term use, but when a vet says long term - I think you are making the right decision not to use them.

Thank you both! We are going to investigate the prepared raw food. Our vet did not say anything about Tylan powder only Ciprofloxacin (antibiotic) and potentially long term steroid to stop inflammation that I am really against due to other long term bad side effects. I will ask for the Tylan. Thanks again for your help, I'll keep you posted.......

__________________
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion. - Unknown

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